Organized chronologically, the exhibition begins with an overview of Dürer’s training and early travels and then focuses on the opening of his workshop, his major works, and his later travels to Italy and the Netherlands. The exhibition concludes with a study of Dürer’s last decade and legacy.
The exhibition includes prints from five major devotional books by Dürer: the Apocalypse, the Large Passion, the Life of the Virgin, the Small Passion, and the Engraved Passion. It also features Dürer’s greatest Renaissance nudes—
Nemesis (The Great Fortune)
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving, platemark: 9 5/8 x 7 1/2 in. Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Herbert Greer French, 1943.193 and Adam and Eve—
plus outstanding exemplars of all three Master Engravings:
Knight, Death, and the Devil;
Melencolia I;
and St. Jerome in His Study.
To provide historical context, works by Dürer’s predecessors, contemporaries, and followers are also on view, as well as maps and a timeline. A video produced by the Frist Art Museum with local artists explains the three most important printmaking techniques used by Dürer: engraving, etching, and woodcut.
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). The Four Horsemen for the Apocalypse, 1497–98. Woodcut (proof before text), image:
15 3/8 x11 1/8 in. Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Herbert Greer French, 1943.212